EAST LANSING, MI -- The resignation Monday of Dr. Donna Rich-Kaplowitz from the East Lansing School Board leaves a vacancy on the seven-member governing body that must be filled in a month.

Per the board's bylaws, the board has 30 days to advertise and solicit the opening. Interested individuals are required to submit resumes and letters asking for consideration.

After candidates are interviewed, board members cast a majority vote on who will fill the empty seat. The chosen individual will then have the option to run for the seat in a November school board election.

Rich-Kaplowitz said she hopes the board appoints an individual who shares her morals and basic principles.

“As the board moves forward in selecting a replacement for my position, I hope it finds an individual who shares some of the values I have represented,” Rich-Kaplowitz said. “This is an extraordinarily hard time to be involved in public education. I had a slightly different vision than the majority of the board. It became evident to me that it would be more efficient for me to spend more time working toward my vision in another way.”

School board President Rima Addiego, who originally joined the board as an appointee in 2003, said it is premature to predict what qualities the board would seek in a new member.

“I believe that many of us would be looking for an individual who has been following the happenings of the board with some regularity,” Addiego said. “I didn’t expect Donna’s resignation at all. We did not always vote the same way, but we felt the same way on a lot of issues.”